Don died July 17, 2021, in Ann Abor, Mich., of Lewy body disease.
Born Aug. 8, 1934, in Pontiac, Mich., Don earned a bachelor’s degree in classical studies from the University of Michigan in 1956. At Princeton, he completed a Ph.D. in classics in 1962, writing a dissertation on Aeschylus’ tragedy, Seven Against Thebes. While at Princeton, Don took a lead role in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist while he was supposed to be studying for his general exams, to the delight of Princeton audiences, but to the detriment of his Horace special author examination.
Don spent his career at the University of Michigan. He began as an instructor in classics in 1959, achieved the rank of full professor in 1978, and retired in 2010. He was a visiting professor at Lawrence University (Wisconsin) and Dartmouth. In Ann Arbor, he performed in productions of works by Shakespeare andGilbert & Sullivan.
Don was also an associate curator at the UM Museum of Zoology. He wrote an etymological dictionary of spider names in Spiders of North America. The spider Tapinoba cameroni and the frog Oreophryne cameroni were named for him.
Don is survived by two sisters and numerous devoted friends. Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.